The article examines the views on the era of "late socialism" in Western historiography of the 2000s, shows the criticism of the "paradigm of stagnation", which served as a methodological basis in the previous scientific literature. While not rejecting the presence of stagnant phenomena and trends in the late Soviet system, Western researchers nevertheless believe that the Brezhnev era was a much more complex, multi-layered and contradictory phenomenon. It differed from other periods of Soviet history in its relative stability, prosperity, absence of violence, dynamic and diverse life of society, far from Western stereotypical ideas. The article also drew attention to various explanations of "nostalgia" and "positive myth" in modern Russian society. Stating various assessments of the 1970s-1980s, historians note that in recent years, periodization and analytical tools for studying Soviet society of the 1970s-1980s are just beginning to be developed. In the academic sphere and in scientific journalism both in Russia and abroad, the ideological basis of research methodology is still preserved, differences in the interpretation of key concepts filled with different meanings are noticeable, and the analysis of the essential phenomena of "late socialism" is undertaken, as a rule, in statics, without revealing genetic links with the past. Undoubtedly, the assessment of an entire era requires a world-systems approach rather than studying it within the framework of the methodology of micro- or local history, which is characteristic of modern historiography of “late socialism”.